Rechargeable
by Combusk
Summary: A story about a guy who died, was reborn, is traveling with some weirdos, and is trying not to die again. If you like generic reborn stories, then go ahead read, but you really have no reason to care about what happens to these people/Pokemon creatures.
1. Chapter 1: Go

**Rechargeable**

**Chapter 1: Go**

I, like many other people, believe that those who leave behind decent enough legacies are never truly dead. For this reason, I feel that my story must be shared, for before I can truly conquer my fear of my soul's final judgment, I must leave behind everything I know about being reborn as a Pokémon.

My name is Luci Devilo. It was supposed to be Lucian, but the doctor's pen ran out of ink when scribing my birth certificate. My mother intervened before the doctor got a second pen to revise his mistake; she found Luci to be a beautiful name. And so Luci would be my name. I do not hate her for what she did, and I can see the beauty in the name (I guess…), though as you can very well imagine, my childhood was a bit rough due to this.

Open to a cloudy day, around say 4:00 pm. In retrospect, it does seem that an unusual event is more likely to happen when a place called Sunyshore City has a cloudy day. My father was off on business and my other had long since passed away. My brother Sven, who was in charge of the house while Dad was away, had gone off to "go eat beef jerky" with his friends behind the Sunyshore Gym, leaving me in charge of my little brother, Ben.

Ben's attention span was very ephemeral. I had just put in a Bionicle movie for him (it's called "The Legend Reborn", heh) when he already decided that he was bored and wanted something else to do. Of course, he didn't tell me he wanted to do something else. He just got off the couch and wandered away. I followed him as he went into Sven's room and rifled through his clothes drawer.

"You're not supposed to be in here." I said calmly. After all, the situation had not been enough to annoy me today. It was just too damn gloomy outside to get upset.

Ben pulled an old Game Boy out of the drawer. "I want play game!" he exclaimed.

Sighing, I took the Game Boy, tried the power switch, and stared as the screen did absolutely nothing. This thing hadn't been used in years. Its batteries were dead.

"Sorry, Ben. Wanna play with something else? You can play with my DS as long as…"

"NO! I WANT THAT ONE!" he whined, pointing to the old Game Boy. I sighed again. I wondered if Pokémon trainers had this problem with young Pokémon. If it wasn't for Sven needing someone to watch Ben while he went and did stuff, I could've gone on the Sinnoh Gym Circuit like some of the other kids in my grade.

"If I gotta stay, you gotta stay!" Sven's voice echoed in my head. He wasn't too happy about Dad leaving him all this responsibility, so I guess keeping me here was one of his ways of coping with it.

"I'll run to the store and get some batteries." I finally said. "Then you can play this game, alright?"

Ben shut up and nodded. The trip to Sunyshore market shouldn't take long, so it's not like I worried too much about the fact that Ben would be alone in the house for a bit. Of course, it wasn't going to be "just a little bit", but it's not like I, or anyone else at the time knew that.

Sunyshore market sells batteries in two varieties. One is the store surpluses, once-valuable brand name batteries. The other kind came in a large rubber band, generic batteries that had been recharged by some employee and put out at dirt-cheap prices. Because the rubber band was cheaper and came with more batteries, I bought that pack.

Big mistake.

Walking back home, I began to cross the street. I looked both ways, and I didn't see anything coming from left or right. Looking back, I should've check behind me as well, for reasons you're about to find out.

A battery slipped out of the bundle and fell on the ground. One millisecond later, I slipped and fell on my back. One more millisecond later, a car turned the corner and couldn't brake in time to avoid hitting me.

Didn't come from left or right, but from behind, and turned.

I suppose you're wondering why I glossed over my death and didn't describe it that well. The truth is, elaborating on the event would not have done justice to how abruptly it happened. Besides, the important part of the story is not the part when, as a human, I died.

It's what happened after that does.

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Nervous. This is the first fic of this type I have written. Hope you don't mind the first-person narration...


	2. Chapter 2: The Bureau

**Chapter 2: The Bureau**

Purgatory: noun. a condition or place in which the souls of those dying penitent are purified from venial sins, or undergo the temporal punishment that, after the guilt of mortal sin has been remitted, still remains to be endured by the sinner.

My definition? Purgatory: noun. It's a freaking bureau, and the long waiting is the endurance test.

I don't even know how I appeared there. One second, the car hit me, the next, I was suddenly in line in this weird office place. There were all kind of souls, both people and Pokémon around me, all in lines, waiting for something.

Craning my neck, I looked ahead to find out just where this line led. I saw a desk with what appeared to be the legendary Pokémon Giratina speaking with whoever was at the front of the line. Looking to the left and right revealed that each line led to an identical desk, each desk being also being manned by Giratina. This perplexed me, wasn't there only supposed to be one?

"That's not a Giratina." said a voice from behind me. I turned around and saw a Ralts. Damn psychic must've read my mind.

Seeing no verbal response from me, he continued. "As I said, the one up front, and the ones at the other desks, they are not Giratina."

Now over the astonishment of having a conversation with a Ralts, I said, "And just how do you know this?"

The Ralts chuckled. "Because I've been here before. Seven times before, in fact. This is my eighth. When you've lived and died so many times, you get to know the persons involved in the whole process."

"Uh huh…" I replied. I wasn't so sure what to make of that. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to make of my situation. I supposed this would be as good a chance as any to find out. "Swear you're not just pulling my leg?"

This elicited another laugh out the Ralts. "What motivation could I possibly have for lying to a fellow soul? If my lives have taught me anything, it's that sharing what you know is the best feeling in the world, and I can't get that if I lie to you, now can I?"

I shrugged. "I guess so. I suppose since we'll be in this line awhile, we might as well kill time with everything you know about this place."

Smiling, the Ralts cleared his throat. "This place is where those who have recently died are sent to have their souls organized. This organization is done by those 'Giratinas' up front. Remember what I said earlier, how they are not Giratina? The way you're using the term, 'Giratina' is a species name. Among them, however, it's a title."

Just then, a much larger Giratina appeared behind the row of desks, the smaller Giratinas manning the desks appeared more panicked now.

"That's a Giratina." said the Ralts. "In their language, 'Giratina' means 'death supervisor'. The smaller ones are 'Giradrona', 'death clerks'. Basically, this Giratina supervises this department to make sure that their work is being done productively. As you can see by the big lines all around us, many people and Pokémon die each day, so it's important that they keep this office from getting too flooded with souls. Any questions so far?"

"Yes." I breathed. "How is the organization done, like, what happens to us when we go up to the 'death clerks'?" I couldn't bring myself to use stupid terminology like 'Giradrona' or whatever the hell Ralts-dude here said.

"Oh, they just do a quick evaluation of you life, and um… how I do put this in words you'll understand?"

"Does it have anything to do with heaven and hell?" A short awkward silence followed. "You see, Arceism (basic Sinnoh religion; has something to do with something called Arceus) is so widespread in Sinnoh that even people who aren't devout Arceists know about their teachings and concepts."

"Sure let's go with those terms!" the Ralts quickly stammered. "After evaluating your life, they either send you to what Arceists call 'heaven' or 'hell', or the third option, which I'm certain you Arceists do not have a term for?"

"I never said I was Arceist!" I exclaimed. It's not like I ever went to church or immersed myself that much in what everyone taught about Arceus and the world he supposedly created.

Ralts continued. "The third option, if the Giradrona finds that, for whatever reason, your life was incomplete, your soul will be sent back into the living world to live a new life."

"And that's what has happened to you, right?" I interjected.

"Yes, though I'm still not sure what the criteria exactly is, though." he mused. "It can't be just life being cut short. I mean, quite a few of the souls around here that aren't sent back are quite young, and as for me, some of my lives have been quite long indeed."

"So I guess what you're saying is that the amount of time you lived has nothing to do with how 'complete' your life was?"

"Exactly."

"So then…" I never got to finish that question, as I was interrupted by one of those 'death clerks'.

"Um…" the clerk said nervously. "It's your term, mister, um…"

"Devilo." I finished. "Luci Devilo."

"Hi, I'm Tony, pleased to meet you. I'll be your Giradrona today, please wait while I pull up your file." Now that I was close enough to him and the other clerks nearby, I could see that Tony's spikes here were kinda dulled and rounded compared to the others. He appeared to be smaller than the other 'Giradronas' (ugh, what a stupid term) and was sweating up a storm as the nervously typed on the computer in front of him, obviously tapping the 'backspace' key many times due to making hasty mistakes.

"Is everything alright?" I asked him.

"Sure, sure!" he replied. "Just need to AW NO!" he hit the backspace key again. "How do I keep screwing up this badly?"

After a bit more furious typing, he finally turned back to me and said, "Okay, I finally got your file up… I think. Now it says here that in your life, there are… wait. Luci with an 'i'?"

"Yeah."

"Damn, I'm so stupid!" Tony exclaimed, and he went back to furiously typing, cursing himself as he did so. This guy had self-esteem issues, though I guess that's only natural being the runt of his peers and all. I took this time to look around his desk. If you've ever been in a generic office, you pretty much know what is on the common desk. The same applied here too, expect for one unusual feature. It appeared to be touchscreen panel with three options on the screen. I couldn't read what was displayed, though I did have a good idea what those buttons did.

"Oh no…" muttered Tony. I craned my head to take a look at the computer screen. Even though I wasn't familiar with this weird OS that the death clerks used, it was clear to me that Tony had been unable to pull up my file. I then turned my gaze to my left, the big Giratina was coming this way; there was no doubt that he'd check Tony's performance, seeing how this line, thanks to me, was being held up. Even that Ralts behind me seemed a bit concerned over the approaching Giratina.

"Well, I guess you better hurry up and decide what to do with me..." I whispered. This caused Tony to burst into silent tears as he turned and began pleading with the computer to work or something. I can describe the situation as pitiful and somewhat pathetic. The giant Giratina would be here in less than 10 seconds. I had to do something to help this poor death clerk out. I reached over the desk and pressed one of the buttons on the touchscreen panel. Immediately, I could feel my soul being pulled by an unnatural force out of the office.

"Crap, I don't know what I pressed and where I'll end up!" I thought as my soul rocketed further and further away from Purgatory, the death bureau.

At least the line wasn't held up anymore.

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Kinda twisted. Keep in mind that this does not reflect anything I honestly believe about the afterlife or the Pokémon world. I just wrote what I thought would make an interesting story, that's all.


	3. Chapter 3: I still see the X

**Chapter 3: I still see the X**

Y'know, it's weird how this is the first time I'd ever seen the inside of an egg.

Floating in front of me was the X. Or perhaps I was floating in front of it. Whatever the case, I decided to turn away from it, only to find that attempting to move away did not work. The X was still there.

Going over the events in my mind, I concluded that I had, or rather, was soon going to be, reborn as a Pokémon. Which species? I did not know as my sense of feeling was all over the place (basically I couldn't tell my own body shape) and it was really dark. Or perhaps this weird void was an afterlife after all. But even then I could not be sure which one it was. The only thing I knew for certain was that I could still see the X.

I don't know how much time had passed between my first discovery of the letter and the time when it finally came to me what it meant and what to do. I'm guessing that my brain had to physically redevelop first before I could make full use of my cognitive abilities to where they once were again.

My conclusion said that the X was there to point out a weak spot in the egg's shell. If that Ralts was true, this X was likely a part of the interior of all Pokémon eggs to give a clue to the Pokémon inside what to do about their situation. Knowing that, I decided to break out and be reborn.

I punched the letter, and only ended up hurting my arm. I forgot about that physical development thing. You see, because Pokémon have had to fight for survival upon entering the world, I'm guessing that they had to develop for quite some time inside the egg before being powerful enough to be granted life.

I knew that until I was strong enough, I would still see the X.

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Yeah, I know this Chapter is short. Next chapter has the reveal.


	4. Chapter 4: Boring stuff about

**Chapter 4: Boring stuff about the relatively uneventful second life; or before I actually began to explore the rabbit hole  
**

At long last, I finally had enough strength to break free of the egg! As I stretched out, and my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw…

A bunch of weird people whom I did not recognize staring at me with big smiles on their faces. Because that's what I wanted my first new sight to be.

The forefront person then advanced toward me, arms outstretched. As my sense of perspective returned, I began to suspect that whatever Pokémon I saw now was quite small compared to a human. My suspicion was confirmed when she and others started hugging me, calling me cute, and passing me on and whatnot. It was really kind of awkward, though perhaps it might not have been if I had not retained memories of my previous life.

Finally lucid enough to remind myself to find out what I am, I looked down at myself, and found a body of mostly white fur with a white and blue tail sticking in a weird position due to the way this weird person was holding me. I was a Pachirisu.

Aside from the brief freak out at becoming what I considered to be quite a wimpy Pokémon, which the freaky people mistook for me wanting some kinda liquid food, the next few weeks were uneventful.

You see, these people apparently were volunteers at a Pokémon egg hatchery. Lemme tell you, they totally babied me and the other Pokémon whose eggs they found. This was nowhere near a good thing, for how did they expect their victims (Okay, maybe that's a bit too harsh a term to use, I mean their hearts are in the right place… I guess.) to live in the wild with other Pokémon?

The answer came when they finally decided I was old enough to be set free. Thank you guys, I'm old enough to survive out here, only problem is, I don't know how to do so. The least you could've taught me is how to avoid predators or something.

Anyway, I supposed it would be a good idea to figure out where I was, and maybe find something to eat. At the time, a nearby Oran Berry bush looked like it would serve one of those purposes. Being carried all the time in that center (I'm serious when I say they paid WAY too much attention to the Pokémon in there), it took me bit to stumble over to bush on my new super-tiny legs.

"Bon appetit." I mumbled as I stuffed the tangy sphere into my mouth. After the first one, I felt a sudden burst of energy. It was a really good feeling, but just feeling good doesn't make it so. Soon I was wolfing them down, and then the next moment, I saw blackness, the moment after that, I saw a shape holding onto something and seizing up in death, and then the moment after THAT, I was looking up with a Chatot staring down at me.

"Wha…?" I began.

"I was wondering when you'd come to." the Chatot interrupted. "Don't you know that too many of those things will give you too much energy!? You my friend have suffered a really major crash, and I'd advise you stay away from those unless you REALLY need them!"

Sitting up, I wiped the foam off from around my mouth. "Thank you for your advice…" I said, fearing that I had come close to killing myself in such a foolish way. "I'm sorry, I was just hungry, and well, I don't know what to do!" I thought of it immature, but I guess my new form had some babyish impulses in it or something because I started crying.

Seeing this, the Chatot's expression softened. "Heh, I'm guessing you're from that Daycare center? Don't sweat it dude, I'll help you out. After all, no one knows how to live better than me! I'll have you know that I've actually been through a lot of lives through reincarnation? Lemme tell ya, the more you live, the more you learn, and there's nothing better than sharing all you know with others who--"

"Oh my goodness!" I exclaimed. The Chatot stopped. I now recognized the voice. It was that Ralts from Purgatory! "I honestly didn't expect to come across you!"

"Heh, ditto here!" the Chatot breathed. "So, Mr. Devilo, or do you prefer Luci?, how's life as a Pachirisu been treatin' ya?"

I didn't prefer Luci, that name had been very bad to me throughout my early childhood. "Um, I don't really know how to answer your question, Mr… What is your name?"

The Chatot chuckled. "My current life is solitary, I have no name in this one yet, and I never use names from my previous lives, so um, if ya wanna call me by something, gimme a moment to come up with a name, OK?"

I nodded. It was getting dark, and it truly was scary knowing that this one bird was my only hope of surviving the rest of my small, furry life. Watching the Chatot pace, I began to notice some kind of distortion in the air behind him.

"I got it!" he exclaimed. "You can call me ∞!"

"∞!?" I questioned. "What kind of name is ∞!?"

"The kind that guys like me feel like having!" ∞ shot back, a bit annoyed. "I don't see why after so many mundane names I've had over the years, I can't use the opportunity to name myself something neat!"

Before I could answer that, the distortion dissipated as one of those 'death clerks', or was it a Giratina, appeared into view. I didn't really know, as they only difference in their appearances is the size. Regardless of the being's identity, I felt compelled to alert ∞ to this.

"∞! There's a… death clerk behind you!" I screamed.

"Oh." came ∞'s voice in a very nonchalant manner. "That's strange; they don't usually come here."

* * *

Don't ask me how to pronounce ∞'s name, I don't know either.


	5. Chapter 5: Encounter

**Chapter 5: Encounter**

Weren't the death clerks done with me? I was sure that after Purgatory, I wouldn't need to see them again until I died again. Of course, if I had been anymore frightened, I would've dropped on the spot and that would've been the case.

Upon seeing the clerk shift to what Sinnohian myths refer to as 'Altered Forme', the dull claw and spikes on the clerk signaled me to a familiar presence. Tony had come, and if he had to come to our world to do it, it must've been of utmost importance.

"I've been assigned to reap your soul." he said despondently. This was already unnerving to me.

"Why?" I asked. Tony turned his gaze away from me and gave his explanation.

"You're not allowed to decide for yourself what happens to your soul, and by reaching over my desk and sending yourself back here, you got the two of us in a whole lot of trouble."

I gulped. "Um, how much trouble?" my voice was becoming increasingly shaky. I mean, I was trying to help him out when I reached over the desk and everything.

"Well Giratina Mortis, the supervisor, is upset at you for breaching the Purgatory office rules, and upset at me for letting it happen. I have come to correct my mistake." he chocked, as if he really didn't want to go through with what he had to do.

I took this as a sign that my soul was destined for Hell. I mean, other than the fact that I had caused all this inconvenience for Tony and his supervisor, I began to ponder the nature of my death. According to Arceism, and many other forms of religion actually, suicide is considered a really bad act to commit. In most religious teachings, the selfish act condemns you to their versions of Hell. Had my death been self-inflicted? After all, I was the one who bought the batteries; I was the one who stepped out onto the street. No one else had made me do it. It was me. Sure, my intent was never to die, but my intent in the office had been to help out Tony, not get him in major trouble. I'm sure that in Mortis's eyes, I killed myself and was going to have Tony send my soul to where it had to go. After all, Tony wouldn't be so downcast if he was going to send me to Heaven, right?

"I'm afraid I can't reveal to you what's going to happen after this…" Tony started. ∞ began to look concerned as he said this; he was probably coming to the same conclusion I did. "But I want you to know that I am truly very, very sorry." Tony began to sob, and lemme tell you, that cry was probably one of the most disturbing and sickening sounds I've ever heard. It was so sad to see him like this, but at the moment, I was (understandably) more concerned over what was going to happen to me.

Scared out of my mind, I ran away. I never paid any attention to the direction, or where I was headed, I just had to run away. Looking behind me, I noticed nothing, showing me that for whatever reason, Tony wasn't following, and neither was ∞.

"Maybe Tony's just toying with me?" I asked myself. I pushed that thought out of my head the next instant. "No, he doesn't seem like the kind of person who would do that! Whatever's going on, I'm away from him and as long as a can keep up this speed, I'll be safe!"

Looking behind me for about 4 more seconds (how I didn't barrel into a tree is a mystery that eludes me to this day), I turned to look ahead, and suddenly, I saw a human girl, probably about my age, falling, and landing on her head. Hearing a sickening CRAAAACK sound, I stumbled and fell on my bottom. My eyes snapped shut.

"Crap!" I thought. "What the hell was that!?" Although I didn't know my exact location, I figured that this forest must project some kind of illusion on the beings in it. That, or I was losing my mind. Thankfully, I would soon find out that the answer was neither. Opening my eyes again, I looked up to find a Turtwig dead in front of me, staring me in the eyes.

I screamed. Among humans, Turtwig is classified as the Tiny Leaf Pokémon. Seeing one stare me in the face eye level was frightening mostly because it reminded me how small and helpless I was.

"Not used to being a Pokémon yet?" she asked. I could tell it was a she from the voice. If I had not been so paralyzed by fear at the moment, I would've joked to myself that I couldn't tell her gender for sure, for all I knew she could've been a man with a really girly voice. Being bullied a lot when I was little really warped my observations of people that way.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked. Did she know that I used to be human or something?

"I saw your death." she stated. "How long ago was it?"

I looked around me and took for careful note on the status of the trees. Aside from the evergreens, they seemed mostly devoid of leaves. I remember my death happened a few weeks after school let out for summer, so if it was between fall and winter now…

"Um, about 4-5 months… in human measurements anyway." I replied. "But that was when I was human, and I'm a Pachirisu now! How did you know I'm the same guy you saw being run over by a car back in Sunyshore City?"

"I didn't see it firsthand!" she snapped. "I saw it when you nearly ran into me! Didn't you see mine, too?" What she said was frightening. She was able to see how I died just by looking at me? Talk about a morbid ability. I rubbed my temples.

"I don't know what I'm talking about!" I stammered. "All I know is that I'm scared, and now for more than one reason!"

"You should've seen mine." she said, now calmer. "All reborns, when their eyes first lock, should be able to see how the other died in their previous life."

Oh, well that explained the vision I saw when I was running.

"So you were human too!" I breathed in amazement. She smiled.

"I recognized you as a boy who was in my Math class." she said. "You're Luci, right?"

"Yes." Now I was embarrassed. I had no idea who the hell this girl was when she was human. I never paid attention to who any of my classmates in any of my classes were. In fact, if they didn't sit immediately next to me, they had to name and no presence as far as I was concerned. I braced myself, knowing I would probably get slapped for the next thing I said.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are." Wincing, I noticed that she hadn't slapped me but instead had a pensive look on her face.

"You probably didn't get a good enough look at my face in my death scene." she replied. "My name is, or was, Teri Terreno, and I distinctly remember that you were in my Math class. You got called up a lot and almost always had the answer."

"Oh." I squeaked, blushing. I didn't think I was that good of a student in that particular class, but apparently my name came up enough for her to know I existed.

"I do admit though, that isn't the main reason I remember who you are…" she began. My ear perked up. This would be interesting, I could feel it.

* * *

Next chapter, we find out what the reason is and why it appeared that Tony didn't follow the running Luci. Also, thank you xEmilia, silentlysnowing, and srgeman for reviewing.


	6. Chapter 6: Assistance

**Chapter 6: Assistance**

One thing I learned about what we refer to as Legendary 'Pokémon' over the course of my story is that due to rarely appearing on our earth, they're often much more inept when they adopt earthly forms. This little piece of information started with this anecdote ∞ told me of the events that occurred after I ran away.

"You're not going to follow him?" ∞ asked. Tony didn't answer; he was apparently trying to will himself forward, judging by the way he kept thrusting his neck.

"This isn't working!" he cried. Turning to ∞, he pleaded, "Help me!"

"You're going to drag Luci to hell!" replied ∞, crossing his wings. "I find him to be a pretty swell guy so… No! I don't think I'll help you!"

"Help me or I-'ll, uh, attack you or something!" Tony shot back. ∞ snickered. He could tell that Tony was panicking like a Rattata cornered by a Persian.

"Mr. Immobile? I don't think that's going to happen!" ∞ jeered, sticking his tongue out at the death clerk. I have to say, if Tony wasn't the kind of weakspined pushover that he was at the time, ∞ would probably have been on his way back through the lines of Purgatory. When he first relayed this story to me, it put me at odds with his 'never tell lies' mantra until I remembered that after the numerous times he had gone through death and rebirth probably left him jaded and impervious to the fear of death. Of course I would later be mistaken but now is not the time for my rambling. The insult sunk into Tony, whose face contorted in a mixture of pain and anger for a brief second before he broke down sobbing.

"Why!?" cried Tony. "Why is this happening to me!?" ∞ chocked to stop laughing once the waterworks began running again. "I-I…I d-don't wanna give Luci to Mortis! I don't want him to… to…" another chocking noise came from him before he continued. "Mortis has a terrible temper and I know what he's gonna do and I can't stand it! I can't stand my terribly duty! I can't stand being the subordinate! I can't stand having a common Pokémon laugh at me!" He tried once again to move, but only ended up toppling himself over; he seemed to be having troubles balancing himself on the ground as well.

"And I can't even stand…" he finished. For being in Altered Form for the first time, ∞ did say to me that he actually did a pretty good job of standing up on his six legs until this point.

"Look…" ∞ began softly. "I'm sorry about making fun of you. That was rude of me, especially after everything that you've gone through. I've been reborn many times in many different bodies. I can help you figure out how to do this fun thing called walking!"

"Walking?" Tony whispered.

"Yeah, because this isn't your realm, you can't move around by thrusting yourself through the air! Here, ya gotta use those legs to push yourself up and forward! Of course, in exchange for my little lesson, you're gonna have to promise not to give Luci up to your supervisor!" He winked, his way of saying "Trust me, it'll be OK."

Tony went a bit teary eyed again. "B-But I can't do that! It would only guarantee him coming here personally!" His voice was a sponge absolutely soaked in fear.

"Well my friend, looks like you're going to have to come up with some kind of plan!" ∞ said with the teasing edge back in his voice. "Because otherwise the only thing you'll be doing is warping back to your dimension empty-handed!"

A long silence followed as Tony's eyes shifted back and forth in thought. He then broke this silence with this sentence: "I could see if I could influence Mortis's decision."

"That's whatcha should've thought in the first place! Don't let that curmudgeon push you around!"

"But… I'd need something to base my argument on… could you help me with that?"

"Buddy, if we're on the same side then I will stick through with you 'till the absolute end!"

The two of them shared a smile. After a moment, ∞'s smile somehow managed to grow larger than what Tony thought physically possible.

"Say, go back and buy us some time!" ∞ told Tony. "Go up to your boss and tell him that you need more time than you, no, anyone anticipated and that you want to be completely undisturbed so you can uh, prepare Luci's soul to be submitted to him! Yeah, um, you're gonna have to fill in the blanks with the parts of your office I'm not familiar with…"

"I think I can try and do that." Tony said with a new sensation of confidence. "I'll be back!" Tony then concentrated and warped back to his office. ∞, leaning against a tree, began to think of various ways he could make my soul look good when I'd eventually have to face Mortis. He had gone through the bureau lots of times, so he knew which things a good soul had on its resumé and what things would grant the soul to damnation. He also used the time to compile the events that just occurred for him to tell me later.

Tony returned just as ∞ finished up conjuring the adjectives he would use to describe himself and Tony in his retelling.

"Okay, I got us 90 minutes!" Tony exclaimed. "Of course, converting that according to this terraform's Solar-day based time system, that's about 180 of your days, 6 months! That oughta do it, right?"

"Sure!" ∞ said, plastering another large smile on his face. ∞ was sure that we'd need more time than that, but he could bug Tony to go for another extension later. For now, he was pleased with the relative ease in which it seemed Tony was granted the 6 month one.

"But how will it help us?" Tony said, his smile disappearing. "Mortis is unlikely to change the decision I'm sure he's already made."

∞ was quick to answer that. "Wow, all that work you do in the office has really made Tony a dull boy…" he chuckled. "From all the times I've been in your office plus all the reborns I've talked to equals…" He ran up to Tony, who had fallen over again, and put his shoulder up against his while wearing the world's cheesiest smile (Hey, I'm merely repeating ∞'s story here. I've gotta say, you've got to admire a person who is willing to say they've got a 'cheesy' smile).

"…one guy who knows what the soul that eludes the third worst option looks like!" ∞ finished. He knew that Tony was kind of passive to anyone and anything, but ∞ was really making himself out to be the world's greatest genius in the way he presented himself. This was ∞'s way of making sure that Tony would trust in him completely. ∞, wherever you are now, I really appreciate that you what you did for me there!

"Great!" chirped Tony. All he and ∞ had to do was find a situation for me that they could use to help save my soul and make me jump on it. After celebrating to himself for a bit, he narrowed his eyes, staring at ∞.

"Now about those walking lessons…" he whispered.

"Okay, now one thing you can starting doing is mentally labeling your limbs, going from left to right, number them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Done that? Okay, good! Now try to get a sense of…"

I'm cutting off here. No offense to ∞, but from here it's a droning story on how he got Tony to learn walking and I'm afraid that while it's kind of interesting, it doesn't really have relevance to the story I need to relate to you here.

In the time frame in which that was taking place, Teri, the reborn Turtwig, was telling me about what she knew about me and my connection to a person I would meet again soon.

"Luci, do you remember that fact that you sat to the immediate left of Charlie Marrone in our Math class?" she asked.

"Kind of…" I stammered. "But all I remember is that he was named Charlie, and that is because he'd always get a higher grade than me!" I ought to elaborate on this. I never really had a passion for math as a subject. In fact, although I did adequate enough to receive an A as my final grade, I found my abilities inadequate due to the 2 or 3 people who were better gifted than I. Charlie who sat to my right was one of them. I'd get a 92, he'd get a 98. But like I said, I didn't have a passion for math, so it wasn't like it bothered me or anything.

"Yeah, he's so smart…" she said semi-vacantly. Turning her attention back towards me, she explained, "Charlie was my boyfriend. We fell in love during Second Semester."

I did notice that Charlie's test scores (I'd lean over to see what he got when tests were passed back, but again, it's not like I cared.) did, on average, start to slightly slip during the last semester of math class. Never thought that it was due to spending more time with another person, but I didn't at the time know anything about Charlie other than his grades. Pondering this to myself, I waved my paw around, indicating for her to continue.

"And then, after 13 weeks of that, we were separated when I died. I know you saw it, but I don't think you paid enough attention to remember it very well, so…"

While she was talking about how her last day as a human began, I remembered that near the end of the semester, just before summer started, Charlie's scores were getting dangerously close to mine. Then another memory came back in which a student council member came in and read something to the class that I didn't bother to pay attention to. Now I felt horrible upon realizing that it was a memorial to the death of a classmate, someone who my neighbor Charlie was very closely connected to. My feelings of horribleness increased once I realized I wasn't paying attention to Teri telling her story.

"…and I guess the crowd was getting too big for some people to handle, and well, in the panic, I tried to get back down to the ground, and then that's when someone rushing through the crowd pushed me and I fell down the stairs."

Sunyshore City has a series of solar panel roads that rise above the ground. You know how like in a mall there will be an upper level and a lower level? The upper pathway towers over the houses and stores to make access to more houses and stores. That development saved on Sunyshore City's electricity bill, and nearly doubled the amount of commercial space available in our small corner of Sinnoh.

"It was so horrifying!" she gasped. "And then just like that, it was all over…" She seemed to be paralyzed by revisiting the moment of her death again.

"I see…" I said, trying to convey my sympathy towards her plight. "I gotta know why the solar roads were so crowded. What the heck were…?"

Now's the part where I got slapped across the face by an angry Turtwig. "You weren't playing attention!?" she screamed. "How dare you just decide to ignore a story you seemed so damn eager to hear!"

"I'm sorry!" I quickly responded. "But, I only zoned out in the middle, I still get the general idea of…"

I didn't get to finish that sentence either when another blow was inflicted on my soft Pachirisu face.

"Just go!" she sobbed. "Now I see why I've never seen you have any friends! Charlie was right when he said you were a weird cold creep!"

Sure was nice to know what the guy who sat next to me thought of me.

"At least your death wasn't your fault at all…" I said. This seemed to get her to look in my direction again. "I slipped because I was too stupid to not get a bag for those stupid cheap batteries! My brother just wanted to try an old game Boy he found and I was so indifferent to his happiness…" I then turned away as I angsted even more. "The only thing I cared about was shutting him up. I just went for the cheapest batteries, some old duds recharged by a sleazy market clerk! I accept that I deserve the death that I caused."

She took a step closer to me as I finished. "At least you deserved to be reborn, Teri. I just reached over the desk and didn't face my true judgment." Well, it's kind of embarrassing to share with you how angsty I'd get sometimes, but that was a deeply-ingrained part of me at the time and I can't just ignore it because if I cut it out then parts of the story don't make sense, such as here when Teri reacts.

"I wouldn't say that, I'd say you just decided to, well, take charge for once!" There was now less than an inch of space between us. "You've got to be fucking kidding me if you're calling your death a suicide. Things happen sometimes and it seems that you've already grown a bit from the indifferent guy in my math class." As I looked up again, she added, "Just a bit though, you still zoned out when I was talking."

"Look, I said I'm sorry!"

"I know." She then stepped back away from and circled as she said, "Yeah I know, so no sense dwelling on that anymore. Besides, we've gotta get back to Charlie! He's my trainer in this current life!"

"We've!?" I questioned. "Are you saying that the guy took up Pokémon training and you want me to join you?"

"Well, yeah!" she chirped. "Charlie's doing the Sinnoh Gym circuit as part of his therapy! You see, his psychiatrist suggested it as a way to get over my death, and well, let's just say that my rebirth was the first of many shining moments for the both of us. Thing have been improving! We even got the Beacon Badge shortly after we started this summer!"

This gave me a good reference of the times. To make it simple, Charlie and Teri started dating in the Winter and through Spring. Come late Spring, Teri dies and Charlie's math performance suffers. Early summer, Charlie apparently took up Pokémon training with a reborn Teri as his starter (There's no way that could've been a coincidence; I wondered why her second life was in such close proximity to a person from her first.) Middle Summer, I die. Fall, I am reborn, and then finally in the start of the new Winter, I meet ∞, Teri, and am soon to meet Charlie. This turn of events was turning out much differently than I expected (What I was expecting was the salvage life of a wild Pokémon before this point, in case you'd care to know)

"Trust me, Luci!" Teri continued. "I think that if you come on this journey with us, it will help heal you like it has been me and Charlie." That did sound great, but there was the little problem slowly clawing its way out from the back of my mind, the fact that a death clerk was after me to send my soul to hell and whatnot.

"I'd love to, but…"

And as if on some grand cosmic cue, Tony came barreling into the scene, ∞ flying close behind.

"OH NO!" I shouted as I started to run away again.

"No wait!" cried ∞. "Don't run! We figured everything out! Everything's going to be okay! *pant* *pant* *pant* Oh, and by the way, who's the Turtwig?"

* * *

Yeah, sorry about all the angst, that will kinda pop up from time to time. (Though the fact that he grew up as a boy named Luci probably doesn't help matters much)**  
**


	7. Chapter 7: Greetings

**Chapter 7: Greetings**

Teri began to answer ∞'s question when their eyes locked. The two appeared to be in a slight trance as they stared at the vision between them. To me, and probably to Tony as well, it just looked like they were standing there blankly. I guess that just goes to show that extraordinary events can be totally invisible to an outsider.

"Ah, a reborn!" ∞ said inquisitively. "I take it this is your first time?"

Teri appeared puzzled. Was this Chatot before her talking about their deaths in a casual manner, or was that just a forest illusion?

"Usually one is more careful when discussing the subject." she replied coldly. "But it you're asking if this is the first time I've been reborn, the answer is just this one time!"

"Smart girl!" ∞ chirped, correctly guessing her gender. "If there's anything you need to ask me about the reborn life, look no further! You're lookin' at a guy whose currently in his EIGHTH [Yes, he really did put that emphasis on 'eighth'] life. And there's nothing I like more than sharing informa…"

He was interrupted when Teri tackled him, her forehead striking him in the stomach.

"You dare talk about death so casually!?" she cried. "As if it were the weather!? Get out of my sight, you… you… SICKO!"

Is it just me, or was this conversation generating a lot of emphasized words? As much as I wanted to see them stop, I didn't think my small frame would survive getting between a pissed off female Turtwig and her target, so I ended up on the sidelines watching the events unfold. Looking over at Tony, I could tell he was thinking the exact same thing.

4.5 meters tall, 750 kilograms, a legendary Pokémon didn't want to get involved in this? At least at .4 meters and 3.9 kilograms, I had an excuse to avoid the conflict. Things end up so much logical when you apply numbers to them.

"Sicko?" ∞ asked, cocking his head to the side. He was carefully choosing his next words. "Death is just a part of life, like weather is a part of life; wouldn't it make sense for me to speak of both in a direct and engaging manner?"

"I don't know where you're from, but death is not something to take casually!" She turned to me. "Luci! You know not to talk about the subject unless you're being utterly sensitive and serious, right?"

Call me desensitized, but I personally saw nothing wrong with looking at death in nonserious manners. Black comedy, something I enjoyed in my human days, tended to take that view a lot, but then again, it was never really mainstream. For all intents and purposes, discussion of death in our society is taboo unless the situation is serious or dramatic.

"Of course!" came my squeaky Pachirisu voice. Yeah, a spineless voice to match a spineless person.

∞ apparently saw right through my lie a she began shaking his head and chuckling. "By any chance, do you have enough feelings towards this girl to lie to me for her, or are you just afraid of a Tiny Leaf Pokémon? Maybe a mix of both, hm?"

One couldn't argue that ∞ really had lived for so long through his seven past lives. He always would know exactly what to say, especially when he spoke to me.

"Please don't!" I cried. Teri's gaze was directed toward me, and I knew that no matter if I admitted I was lying, she could probably try to clobber me. So, just to clarify, the lesson for now is don't lie, even if it's out of fear, because it leads to bad situations.

"∞ wasn't really being disrespectful!" Tony piped up. "A casual manner doesn't necessarily mean disrespect towards the subject!"

"Thank you!" ∞ exclaimed, exasperated. "Why didn't you butt in earlier, Tony? Kinda would've helped Luci, y'know, not get stuck in an awkward position."

"Maybe the big one has a self-esteem problem." Teri said. Her ability to read what someone else was like could, given a little time, easily be on par with ∞'s. "You don't think that what you have to say is important, so you usually just keep it to yourself. I will admit, however, that it's better than blurting out a LIE…!" Her gaze shifted to me again. "… to hide your true opinion!"

Yeah, this was annoying. Everyone was currently calling me out on that lie.

"What does pointing out our self-esteem issues accomplish!?" I retaliated. Hey, it was kind of upsetting for me. I mean, a few moments prior, we were sharing comforting words and the situation now was quite venomous in comparison.

"It points out that we have some issues to iron out with you two." ∞ said, shockingly serious. Tony and I fell silent at a mood we had not yet seen before in ∞. Once Teri followed suit, ∞'s demeanor quickly returned to the nonserious one. "But, that shouldn't be much of a problem at all! In fact, it will be very good! After all, I do enjoy helping!"

"More like rubbing sandpaper on a sugar cube…" muttered Teri.

∞ turned to Teri, wing outstretched to shake h… I don't wanna say hands, as Chatots and Turtwigs don't really have hands. … ∞ turned to Teri, wing outstretched to shake upper end appendiges. "So, putting that behind us, let's introduce ourselves. Hi, I'm ∞!"

"Which name do you want from me?" Teri's voice hadn't quite yet thawed. "My name from before, as a human, or the name I've been given in my new life?"

"I suppose it doesn't matter…" replied ∞. "I'd go with the current one, as no one is exactly the same person they were in the past; the one in the present is always the best representation of who he or she might be."

"In that case, call me Terra." she said. "Familiar with Pokémon trainers? Mine, Charlie, gave me that name. Rather fitting, wouldn't you agree?"

I would say it was fitting. It was like two letters away from her human name! Of course, Charlie was probably working with the 'earth' connotation in mind, or so I thought at the time.

At that moment, I noticed that Tony was staring into space and reciting some kind of chant. The next moment, I noticed a guy running towards us.

"Terra! There you are! You shouldn't walk so far away from our camp!"

It was Charlie.


	8. Chapter 8: Further Greetings

**Chapter 8: Further Greetings**

The main difference between Charlie at this moment and the way I remembered him in math class lies solely in the way he was dressed. Following a Hoennian fashion standard, this tightly-fit, mostly black and gray ensemble clashed greatly with his loose and airy, white and blue colored style of dress form before. I think it's fairly obvious that the reasoning behind the change has to do with the fact that Hoenn-style trainer outfits are known for their durability compared to regular cotton wear, and the color had to do with mourning.

Oh yeah, and he still had those round glasses that would occasionally send a round beam of light on my shoulder. But, at my new height, I wasn't too worried about those glasses annoying me again.

Usually, what appear to be Wild Pokémon tend to either run away or attack a human upon approach. Since ∞ and I were just standing there, he figured it might mean we belonged to some other trainer. What on Earth another trainer would be thinking letting a Pachirisu and Chatot run around unattended for is beyond me.

"Oh, hello there!" He began. "Are you two lost? Where's your trainer?"

"We don't have one." ∞ and I said. "Woah, we were totally synchronized there, Luci! Neat!" he gasped.

I rolled my eyes.

"Charlie, these two are coming with us, you're supposed to catch them!" Teri shouted to Charlie. If you're reading this, you're most likely armed with the knowledge that Pokémon, except in rare circumstances, cannot communicate verbally with humans. Therefore, you can see why Teri, ∞, and I accomplished absolutely nothing.

"Hmm, lost huh?" Charlie said. A gloomy look went in his eyes (yes I know what that looks like, thanks for asking). "It must be terrible being on your own like this."

On one hand, I could tell he was referring to the way he missed Teri, obviously not knowing that Teri was reborn as his damn Turtwig, but on the other, I kept in mind ∞ next to me and really had to chuckle as is meant I obviously wasn't alone, but enough poking holes in Charlie's semantics, I put it on myself to try and get this annoying gloominess away by cheering him up. The main problem was doing it without words.

Other than words, a main way we express an emotion or idea towards one another was by touch. So due to this handicap, I attempted to go up to Charlie's leg and rub up against it as a way of saying 'it's alright, things will work out, it will be okay' etc. Ignoring the human high schooler in my brain shouting "dude, that's so gay!", I approached, only to find out the hard way that the fur of a Pachirisu builds up powerful (well, not powerful, this never helped me much in future battles, so more like annoying) electric charges.

Basically I gave him one heck of a static shock. The moment afterward, I felt a heavy weight being slapped against my face; only it wasn't a heavy weight, it was a Turtwig leg.

"You idiot!" yelled Teri. "You're lucky that didn't kill him!"

I didn't really know much about Pokémon, especially not Pachirisu, how the hell was I supposed to know about that? I was pretty much just learning all this stuff on the fly. Of course, I didn't bring that up, lest I piss off the ground-type again.

Looking back up at Charlie, the gloom was gone, and replaced by what else, exasperation.

"Little bugger..." I heard him mutter, though I'm sure he wasn't intending for me to be able to hear that. "Okay, thanks for that, I'm sure you didn't mean it but we've gotta be looking for your trainer now!" There was a flat frustration, maybe even a hint of sarcasm during the 'I'm sure you didn't mean it' part in that sentence. "Terra!" he commanded.

Terra jumped onto Charlie's shoulder. Apparently the weight of a Turtwig was also therapeutic concentrated on one side of your body. There's a way to develop neck problems.

"Follow!" he said, referring to ∞ and I, as he began walking.

"Guy likes to get things done." ∞ observed. Charlie was usually first in completing things like math tests and whatnot, I'd assume ∞ was right in noting this tendency.

"I suppose." I replied. We then began walking behind Charlie as he navigated out of the forest.

We walked for 30 minutes before coming across anyone. Charlie spent the next 2 hours asking various trainers if ∞ and I belonged to them, he received the same answer each time.

Leaning on a gigantic boulder, Charlie let out a huge sigh.

"How many people are we going to have to go through!?" he croaked. The sooner he realized we didn't have a trainer, the better.

Some girl came up to where we were as he was finishing that sentence. I don't really remember any details about her appearance besides her dark drown hair, so no real introductory description here.

"Are you looking for a challenge?" she chirped, getting ready to release a Pokémon.

"No." Charlie groaned. "I'm looking for the person who these two Pokémon belong to." He pointed to us. "Does this Pachirisu or this Chatot look familiar?"

"Can't say they do." she chuckled. "Ever considered the possibility that they're wild?"

"If they were wild, would they be following me around? They've gotta be trained!" retorted Charlie.

"The Giratina yours?" she abruptly questioned.

"The what?"

"Nevermind, I don't think you can see him." she immediately bleated.

Oh yeah, apparently only reborns can see a Giratina in the physical world. Has something to due with being in the death bureau or something. I'll explain that more later when she brings it up with me somewhere around the next chapter.

"Well..." Charlie just decided to keep the cryptic last few lines out of mind. "...I guess they may be wild."

"Throw a Pokéball and see if it works." the girl suggested. "If the Pokémon belongs to someone..."

"...it won't work!" Charlie finished. "I know the basics of this stuff, you know!"

"I don't know what you know and do not know!" she replied in a sentence that I can't believe I was able to remember. Hearing a word used repeatedly in a sentence like that tends to confuse and/or annoy me.

Scowling, Charlie proceeded to take out two Pokéballs and aimed the capture light at me and ∞. The sensation kinda felt like I was in one of those full body vibrate massage pod... things as presumably our physical beings were converted to some form of light energy using some complex mathematical psychics formula I don't understand and were put into the mirrored sphere.

* * *

Yeah, I kinda forgot this story, well, existed. Here's a long overdue chapter, and if you want to figure out a name for this girl then be my guest.


End file.
